The 80/20 Rule of Customer Loyalty: Examining the Role of Share of Wallet (SOW) as a Moderator of Affect- and Trust-Mediated Effects

This study presents a model in which store affect and store trust mediate the effects of store characteristics on store outcomes. It is proposed that the impacts of store atmosphere and merchandise value on two types of loyalty intentions are mediated by store affect and store trust simultaneously in a dual process model. Customer share of wallet is hypothesized to moderate the effects of these relationships such that affect will be the key intervening variable for low share customers while trust will be the key intervening variable for high share customers. Using multi-group structural equation modeling, the authors examine moderating effects of share of wallet on affect-mediated and trust-mediated buyer-seller relationships. The results largely favor a multicomponent dual-mediated model with affect having a greater impact on commitment for low share customers and trust having a stronger impact on repatronage intentions for high share customers.